Why Doesn’t God Just Forgive Everyone?

Christians and non-Christians have been asking these questions for thousands of years. "If God loves the whole world why doesn't he just forgive everyone from all of their sins, or at least the 'good people'?" And why did God require his Son to pay for our problem?" Great questions. The problem is the explanations we traditionally give don't always make sense even to us because we're not God. And God hasn't made it crystal clear why he's chosen the plan he did to deal with sin. He simply requires us to accept his plan by faith and not try to second guess him.

Pastor Tim Keller frames the discussion this way. "If someone breaks into my house and the police catch them why can't I just forgive that person for doing it and ask the police not to press charges and let him go? Because in most states the law says that regardless if you press charges or not the guilty need to be tried and punished for the good of society. Their crime wasn't simply a crime against you. It was a crime that violates the laws that we've determined are good for a civil society and if those who violate them just expect, or intimidate their victims into forgiving them it takes away the fear that laws were intended for to deter crime."

Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was only one moral command God gave them, "Do not eat the fruit from the tree of Good and Evil." One rule. Only one law. But of course we know the rest of that story. So God was forced to establish a whole series of moral laws to guard against sinful people hurting others and sinning against him by worshipping other "gods." Six out of the 10 Commandments have nothing to do with honoring God. They are about honoring the rights of others. Those divine laws now govern his world and those who violate them not only sin against him, but threaten the wellbeing and lives of others. Just forgiving everyone for everything would be terrible. Chaos. Evil people would continue to do evil things with no fear of punishment.

Rather than issue blanket forgiveness which has the potential to unleash humans to be even more unkind and cause innocent people to suffer at the hands of the less moral, God has determined that he would accept the sacrifice of his Son in place of our punishment. That allows everyone who accepts his offer of forgiveness to not only be forgiven but does something "mere forgiveness" cannot. Christ's redemption causes us to become born-again, children of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit and should cause us to live more moral lives whether we are forgiven or not. Living more morally isn't the cause for our salvation and redemption, but it's the best evidence for it. And it's a gift to the world of people who love God and others more than themselves.

Frankly I have to admit I like the "good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell plan." That makes more sense to me. But then how good is good? In that plan we can never have assurance of salvation, or peace of mind. Most of us would live in mortal fear of death because we could never know. With God's plan requiring only that we confess our own sin and acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God there is no fear of the future.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8,9